Film Details

Nine is a movie that's all about numbers. It features eight leading ladies, one acclaimed actor, and six of the cast are Oscar winners. It's based on the legendary Fellini film 8 1/2, and adapted from the 1982 Broadway show.

All this should add up to one unforgettable film, and the fact it doesn't makes Nine one of the more perplexing pieces of cinema to be released in the last 12 months.

It's always difficult to depict the work of an artist on the big screen, and an artist who's suffering from a lack of creative inspiration is a particular challenge. In this case, the audience is being asked to find sympathy for an artist who's a petulant and brooding film director.

Daniel Day-Lewis, looking his most Felliniesque, is the director Guido Contini. A celebrated film maker, he has a pressing deadline to start his new movie, but there is no script and he has no ideas. The toast of Italian cinema has hit a dry spell.

Perhaps he should look no further than his turbulent personal life. As Guido tries to concentrate on the task at hand, his mind turns to the women who have the most influence on him.

They are his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his leading lady (Nicole Kidman), his assistant (Judi Dench), a journalist (Kate Hudson), a woman from his past (Fergie) and his deceased mother (Sophia Loren).

As he faces each challenge, Guido imagines the women taking centre stage on his half finished film set, and telling a story through song and dance.

The idea of taking a Fellini film and turning it into a Broadway show always seemed like a strange thing, and one can only guess what the Italian maestro would have made of this big screen musical.

His passionate, revolutionary and unique film making style is light years away from Rob Marshall, the director of Nine. Marshall may have succeeded in 2002 by taking Chicago from the stage to the screen, but he was working with far better material back then.

Nine's paltry storyline and complete lack of substantial characters doesn't give him too much room to move. The solution would have been to throw caution to the wind and make a film filled with stylistic and artistic flourishes.

It's impossible to like Guido. Who cares if he can't make his movie? I wouldn't be too keen to work with him either.

Daniel Day-Lewis may look the part, but a role like this needs charm and charisma to work. Instead the famously committed actor brings his usual dose of intensity to the frazzled film maker and leaves us quite distant from him.

Marshall also films the musical numbers as separate events, away from the action of the narrative. This format worked brilliantly in Chicago where we were invited into the characters minds and could share their innermost thoughts and desires.

This time, the division manages to do nothing but build up a cold, emotionless wall between us and these frustratingly elusive characters.

Having said that, the women of Nine give their all, and Dion Beebe's camera treats them beautifully. These women are cinematic professionals who look like they're enjoying their time in the musical spotlight.

Kidman and Cotillard are tender, Hudson and Cruz sizzle, and Sophia Loren brings elegance and grace to her all-too-short appearances. In fact it's funny that in a film that seeks to celebrate all things Italian, she is the only main cast member to claim the authentic heritage.

The other Brits, Aussies, French and Spanish cast members are up for the job, but are missing that special dolce vita.

Nine has some great individual scenes and performances, but it really has to be considered one of the bigger disappointments of the past year. It derives its inspiration from a film called 8 1/2, but it's nowhere near reaching that score.